The Things We Couldn't Forget

Chapter 25.

Sleep was hard to find.

Between withdrawals, having everyone here, and my heart breaking for Mrs. Statham and her niece, my mind never did fully shut off.

I tried my best to at least try to rest.

I slept in Dallas's old bed and gave Kelsea mine while Aries slept on the couch.

It's mid afternoon before Kelsea and I find our way back downstairs.

"Hey." I say weakly to Dallas where he sits just inside the back door, his head leaned back and eyes closed. "Did you get any sleep?"

"Some." He yawns and looks at me. "You?"

"A little." I half shrug a shoulder.

I'd come down a few hours ago to check on him, he'd been sitting on the back steps, leaning against the railing, his head turned while he looked into the darkness of the back yard.

I know he didn't sleep. He's not the type. I know full well he stayed up all night watching and waiting and listening.

"I'll set my tent and stuff up tonight." He says absently around another yawn.

I don't like him sleeping outside, but I know arguing is useless. I'm just happy to see him back inside after all he'd said last night. It feels good to have him here, even if a small part of the back of my mind wonders just how long he will make it before he takes off again.

"Officer Gillians called." Aries says, walking into the kitchen and stretching his arms over his head. "I've got to go in."

"Why?" I demand but he just shrugs.

"He wouldn't disclose that information over the phone with me." He tells us, mimicking Gillians's no nonsense tone. "He just said he needed me to get down there right away."

"You think it has to do with Amie?" Kelsea asks. Hearing that new name still twists a little blade into my chest.

Amie Farmer.

The latest missing girl of Faulkner Montana.

Jasmine is now old news.

She's only seventeen. She had a whole life ahead of her and now Amie is likely just like the rest of them. A story that will live on to scare people at campfires and sleepovers in the future.

Aries lingers in the doorway, looking at me like he wants to come to me, wants to hug me or something more than a wave, but in the end that's what he does.

He gives a half smile and a wave half heartedly in my direction. "I'll call when I'm leaving. Let you know what he says."

"Ok." I nod, this weird urge to go and hug him bothering me now too.

He grabs his coat off of the counter and his boots from the door and turns and leaves.

It's so quiet in the house we can hear his car crank and the tires as they make their way up the driveway and towards the main road.

I don't like the idea of him going there alone, but I also know that I can't go with him. Not with all the new speculations between the two of us.

"I should go too." Kelsea says, squeezing my arm. "I need to go by the house and get changed."

Kelsea, on the other hand, I can't let go.

"Can I come too?" I ask, praying she doesn't say no. I'm too afraid to let two people I love walk out of my sight today.

"Yeah," she nods enthusiastically, like she was hoping the same thing. "Do you..." she glances at Dallas. "Do you wanna ride with us?" She asks him. "You could grab a nap in the truck."